Bringing God to Life, Part 1

Now here in verse 8 of chapter 3, Titus, I want you to speak confidently. He's kind of like a coach on the sideline. Time's running out, he calls the quarterback over, grabs him by the face mask and yells in his ear, here's the play.

Go out there and do it. You can't miss it. You can't mistake the passion of the coach or the play to run. Paul is effectively saying, listen, Titus, I know you're young. And the culture is evil. And these churches might even be resisting these truths.

I want you to go back in the game and don't hold back. One reason why we need to be good students of God's Word is because we reflect Christ to our culture. When we claim the name of Jesus Christ, the world makes assumptions about who Jesus is by what they see in us. Have you thought much about that? That might be a responsibility you've not considered. And honestly, it might be a responsibility you wish you didn't have. But you do. And honestly, it might be a responsibility you wish you didn't have.

But you do. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey unpacks this in more detail. This is a lesson he's calling bringing God to life. Several years ago, I photocopied an article. I unfortunately failed to footnote it, but a pastor recorded an incident that struck me at first as somewhat bizarre, but upon further thought, not really that bizarre at all. It took place in Russia before the Iron Curtain had been pulled back ever so slightly.

If you're following the news, you know it's closing again. This author, a pastor and several other pastors were traveling in the northeast region looking for opportunities to develop Christian radio. One of their stops was in a city where a local commissar, kind of a mayor, met the group and led them on a tour. He didn't know they were pastors.

He just knew they were Americans, and he obviously wanted to communicate a message to them. As he took them toward the middle of town, he told them they were very proud of their church. And he invited them to see it for themselves, to which they agreed. As they neared the church building, they were a little surprised to see this beautiful white church building with its typical onion-shaped turrets as they stepped inside. The lobby seemed somewhat similar to the lobby of any normal or regular church, with doors leading into the sanctuary. However, as they pushed through those doors and stepped into the sanctuary, they were astonished. It lost all semblance to a house of worship. Stacked from floor to ceiling were rows upon rows of chicken coops filled with cackling hens.

The commissar made a sweeping gesture, and he said, Our church building is the finest hatchery in the region. Then he looked at these Americans, and he said to them, God is not real. Chickens are real. The truth is, you find the average person on the streets of this country, and they're not all that convinced.

What used to be a cultural exclamation point is now a question mark. Jobs are real. Economy is real.

Houses are real. Families are real. Suffering is real. Heartache is real. Money is real. The pressures of life are real.

Chickens are real. We're not too convinced that God's real. The pressures of culture weigh down, and thoughts of God move into the ethereal realm of questioning. This isn't really a new problem. One editorial comments, and I quote, The world is too big for us. Too much is going on. Too many crimes.

Too much violence. Too much devotion to entertainment. Try as you will, you get behind in the race in spite of yourself. It's a strain to keep pace, and still you lose ground. Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you stagger beneath them in bewilderment. The political world is news seen so rapidly. You're out of breath trying to keep up with who's in and who's out.

Everything is high pressure. Human nature cannot endure much more. So reads the Atlantic Journal, June 16, 1833. How are we to communicate to our generation that chickens are real, but God is too? That Jesus Christ really is a genuine, safe harbor. That there really is authentic hope that his grace is real, that the gospel is real.

Well, is it any surprise to us to discover that the advertisement campaign for God has been left up to us as Christians? In a nutshell, here's how we do it. We, Paul has been teaching us, are the recipients of grace, the recipients of God's gospel of goodness and grace and mercy. And we then disseminate. We become distributors of grace. We all have our own little franchise and we distribute it to our world. Our lives become undeniable demonstrations of the fact that not only are chickens real, but God is too.

The creator of chickens is real. Which happens to be the driving incentive as Paul begins to narrow his focus as this little letter to Titus is about to come to an end. If you can believe it will be finished in just another two or three years.

I mean, I mean weeks. I'm going to give you three things today, three observations that come from the text we'll look at. Number one, we are advertising a gospel that is truly reliable. He's going to summarize now not only for the believer living on the island of Crete, but in every generation, in every culture. We are first and foremost advertising a gospel that is actually truly reliable. Let's pick it up. And the text for today, verse eight, says this.

He opens. This is a trustworthy statement. This is genuine.

This is real and concerning these things. I want you to speak confidently. Now, what are these things that were to speak confidently? What's he referring to? Well, in the immediate context, he's referring back to that sentence that took us two Sundays to dissect beginning in verse four all the way down to verse seven. He's saying, deliver these things, the things you've just learned, which means if you go back by way of review, we're to communicate with confidence the truths of God's love and kindness. Verse four, we're to communicate that God's son did in fact make an epiphany, an appearance. Verse four, that faith in Christ alone saves us apart from good deeds. Verse five, that God's Spirit has given us a full body bath in redemption. Verse five, that the Holy Spirit is also in the process of day by day renewing us.

We have had that daily or I should say that that once in all in a lifetime bath. Now we get a daily shower of renewal. We're also communicating with confidence that Jesus Christ, who is equal to God the Father, is sufficient to save us. He is our savior. Verse six, that Christ replaced our sin with his righteousness, that all the charges brought against us in that divine court of law, so to speak, have been thrown out of court. And he has brought the gavel down and said, oh, the record of Christ's perfection has been given to you. Not only did he justify us, which that is referring to.

He actually then, verse seven tells us at the end, we are made co-owners of the kingdom. Paul said, listen, don't beat around the bush. This isn't wishful thinking. This isn't folklore.

This isn't a string of old wives tales. This is the gospel. And I want you to communicate these things with confidence. They are really true.

So communicate them that way. By the way, Titus, again, the immediate application of this is going to be to this pastor teacher. He's saying, Titus, I want you first and foremost to speak with confidence about these truths.

I want you to do it. And I don't know if Titus was hesitating in the face of cultural opposition or maybe even disgruntlement in the churches that he was sent to organize. It's possible that Titus was holding back, reticent.

Paul had to tell that other young pastor in the faith that he wrote letters to, by the name of Timothy, similar things. Come on, don't hold back. Don't let people look down on you.

Be an example. Get out there and with confidence deliver the truth. In fact, Paul hints at this potential hesitation in Titus' heart. You remember back at the end of chapter two in verse 15 where he says, Now look, these things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.

Don't let anybody disregard you. Now here in verse eight of chapter three, Titus, I want you to speak confidently. He's kind of like a coach. You know, on the sideline, time's running out. He calls the quarterback over, grabs him by the face mask and yells at his ear. Here's the play.

Go out there and do it. You can't miss it. You can't mistake the passion of the coach or the play to run. Paul is effectively saying, Listen, Titus, I know you're young and the culture is evil and these churches might even be resisting these truths.

I want you to go back in the game and don't hold back. Here's the play. I'm enjoying a new commentary on Titus by Chuck Swindoll. It's called Insights and he has just recently published Insights on Titus and Timothy and I have been reading that along with these other commentators in my study. He made a quote on this particular text as it related to Titus as a pastor teacher. And I think this is true for all who teach. He said this, There were so many voices of error on the island of Crete.

The same is true everywhere. So this is, after all, the primary purpose of a pastor teacher. He is responsible to proclaim grace clearly and emphatically. He cannot allow reluctance to lay him. He must not allow hesitation to interrupt him and he should not be apologetic. I love this statement. If a pastor stands on the authority of God's word, he can afford to be bold.

That good? And that's for those of you who teach as well. A lot of teachers, several hundred who will be involved in teaching on this campus, even this day and throughout the week. Those who teach and preach the word in the larger scenarios of God's gospel ministry, you know full well the temptation, the potential of holding back, of not addressing certain subjects. They might be controversial, so we're going to kind of get over that verse and maybe nobody will notice we missed it. Or maybe we'll just pick verses and preach or teach those and we can avoid the minefield out there.

You know what it's like, don't you? To face the subtle desire to be pleasing to men instead of being pleasing to God. Paul also uses the present tense in this challenge.

This isn't a one lesson in, okay, you're brave enough, now you can go on to retirement. He's saying this is continual. Keep repeating, keep speaking, keep teaching these things with confidence.

Remember he began with the same thought in chapter 3 verse 1. This is ongoing, this is a repetitive task. Remind them, remind them, remind them.

Why? Because we who teach need reminding, don't we? And so does the body.

And then of course so does the world at large. One pastor I read some time ago, he put it in a rather interesting tongue-in-cheek way that we need to remind the flock. He said three friends decided to go deer hunting, a lawyer, a doctor, and a pastor. And as they were walking into the woods, suddenly a large buck became visible and all three men at the same time simultaneously raised their rifles and fired. The buck went down, all three men ran over to look at the prize and they couldn't tell who's shot had brought it down.

And they all wanted to lay claim to it, so a big debate ensued. After a few minutes a game officer happened to come by and asked what all the commotion was about. The doctor stepped forward and said, well, I got a doctor, I'm a doctor, there's a lawyer and a pastor, and we're discussing, we're debating who actually shot this buck. The officer said, well, let me take a look, and he bent down, looked for just a few seconds, and stood back up and said, well, the preacher shot the buck. The preacher, how can you be so sure?

The officer said, well, easy, the bullet went in one ear and came out the other. You're very funny. The truth is both pastors, teachers at large, and the flock are prone to forget, and Paul wants us to be reminded over and over and over again.

Why? Because if we don't get it, if we don't have it, we'll never communicate it out there. If we don't get it in here where we're patting each other on the back, where we're in favor with the gospel, what are we going to do out there where we happen to be God's advertisement campaign for the gospel? We're it. We're his advertising budget. We are the billboard along the interstates of life that people will look at.

We're the PowerPoint in the boardroom. We're exhibit A in the defense of the gospel. We are communicating, Paul just wants to remind Titus and us, look, you are communicating a gospel that is truly reliable. Don't hold back, especially as culture wanders further and further away from its moorings of truth.

Speak with confidence and assurance. Now, if we really want to communicate to our generation, there's a second key distinctive about these remarkable Christians in any generation. They're also identified as those who are surrendering to a God who is truly personal. Now, before we make it to Paul's challenge, and this is all sort of introduction, we're going to get there eventually, but this is if he says, now, look, we want to make sure we understand who we're talking to, who the audience is we're defining as those who want to communicate clearly this gospel that is reliable.

I want you to notice this phrase. It'd be easy to miss where Paul specifically identifies those who have believed God, those who have believed God. That's who I'm talking to. That's the focus of Paul's statement. Titus, tell those who have believed God.

You tell them, you tell them the truth and tell them to tell the truth as well. Who are they, Paul, those who have believed God? The perfect tense of that verb to believe points to a specific time in the past.

That's what he talked about earlier as we sort of dissected that long sentence. These are they who have been saved. There's a past tense belief. They've come to understand the gospel and they have believed.

And then it has this ongoing effect. They never do lose or leave that belief that he really is truly reliable, his gospel is and that he is truly personal in his salvation. We are they who believe that God at some point didn't just wind up the universe and now he watches us from a distance.

And that isn't it at all. That might be a hit song by Bette Midler from a few years ago, but he is not watching us from a distance. He is personal. He is so personal that you can actually talk to him. And it begins when you talk to him and say, Lord, I understand the gospel and I want you personally to save me. That's how personal he is.

Paul is saying, I'm about to call you to a lifestyle that is remarkable. But before I do, let me just clarify to whom I'm talking. I'm thinking about and writing to those who personally know him. And that's crucial before we ever get to his verdict.

Why? Because it is the individual Christian who lives with the conviction that God is alive is the Christian who is able to become involved in other people's lives. And for the right reason. It's exactly where Paul is headed. Not only are we advertising a gospel that is truly reliable, and the foundation for reaching our world is surrendering to a God who is truly personal. Thirdly, and here's his point, we are to initiate a lifestyle that is truly beneficial. Notice verse eight again.

This is a trustworthy statement. And concerning these things that I've already told you, I want you to speak in an ongoing way with confidence so that those who in the past have believed God and are continuing in that belief, here it is, will be careful to engage in good deeds. Now, Paul has already made it clear that we're not saved by good deeds, not by deeds of righteousness, chapter three and verse five. We don't do good deeds to go to heaven.

We do good deeds because we are going to heaven and we want to take as many along with us. And it happens to be good deeds that get their attention. They couldn't care less that we're in here today.

Big deal. They're not going to check our attendance record. They don't care how much money we've given to support the ministry. They don't care how often you open your Bible in quiet time.

They're not going to ask you, well, before you tell me how many times do you pray when you're alone with God? They couldn't care less. But they can spot good deeds. And I fear that the church, and we would be among them that are committed to the doctrines of grace, that faith alone saves us, sola fidei. And we learn that by means of our commitment to sola scriptura, that is, the scriptures alone which provide the foundation for what we believe and what we hold to and cling to for life and practice, tend to take those good deeds and say, well, that's for the liberal church. Yeah, well, let them do all that stuff. That's that social gospel thing. We're not going to touch that with a 10-foot pole.

So we're just going to hibernate in here. We're going to talk to ourselves, and maybe every once in a while somebody will notice, or maybe even come in here. That isn't what he's talking about. He's saying, look, you're the advertisement campaign for Christianity. An undeniable demonstration of a changed life gets notice. That's why Paul, throughout this letter, by the way, even as he's describing the great doctrines of our faith, you'll notice dotted through this letter are references to good deeds.

Maybe you could take out your pencil. As I've done, and you can just circle, this phrase is going to show up several times. Go back to chapter 2 and verse 7. Be an example of good deeds. You might circle that and draw a line down to chapter 2 and verse 14. Notice the last part. A people for his own possession zealous for good deeds.

There it is again. Chapter 3, look at verse 1. Be ready for every good deed. Look at verse 8.

We're looking at that. Be careful to engage in good deeds. And verse 14, notice that. Our people must learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs.

This isn't a document of social gospel. This is the truth of the gospel demonstrated in a life that's applying itself to engaging our world with good deeds. Oh, so you mean there's more to Christianity than learning our doctrine of P's and Q's? Oh, you know how committed I am to that. You know I'm committed to that. Paul isn't repeating himself with his good deed, good deed, good deed, good deed, because he's running out of material and he really wants to make it to chapter 3 and verse 15.

No. Remarkable Christianity isn't just an education in good doctrine. It is a life of application in and through good deeds.

We have received the kindness and goodness and mercy of God. Remember, don't keep it to yourselves. Open up a franchise. Open up a counter.

Get out there and demonstrate it. Become a distributor of kindness and mercy and grace, which, by the way, reflects the character of our Lord. The Gospel of Luke records for us that our Lord Himself was kind even to ungrateful and evil men.

Luke 6 35. Now I want you to notice one other word here. Paul says that we should be careful to engage in good deeds.

You notice that? Be careful to engage. Be careful to do good deeds.

Now, when I was growing up, I heard that verb over and over again. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful.

Right? Interesting that this is the only time this verb appears in all of the New Testament, and it would be related to this. Be careful. He could think what he could tell us to be careful about. He says be careful to engage in good deeds. It's a compound verb that means to think upon, or we might say it this way, to think about, or to be intentional.

We like that word. Be intentional. Think about it. I mean, how many times have you ever gotten up out of bed and thought, okay, I want to think through two or three ways to do good things today. I want to come up with two or three things. What could I do today?

What could I do today? What could I intend to do to be good? It implies being creative. It implies this verb being thorough, thinking upon with intentionality of how and what to do in the form of good deeds.

And again, it's in the present tense, which means this isn't one solitary, isolated act. It really goes beyond those two or three things you might come up with on your list. This has to do with a mindset. You get up and you go out there, and I've got a mindset on that says I will do good deeds.

That's right here. You know anybody like that? It just seems every time you bump into them, they're looking for something good to do.

It just seems second nature. They're the first ones to take on that extra assignment. They're the ones to take on the distasteful chore.

They get their hands dirty without any complaint. Around here, you see them. You know, they're coming early. They're leaving late. They're setting up, taking down, making coffee, meeting friends, doing all teaching, discipling, just all kinds of stuff. They literally, it's almost like they look for good things to do.

They are an exception to the rule, aren't they? That's why you notice them. People at school know who they are. The teacher knows who they are in his classroom. The coach knows who they are on that football team. Those employees know who they are at the job. They're the ones who put the coffee filter in.

Or maybe take the old one and dump it out and put fresh water. I mean, they just have this attitude. What can I do? What can I do for others? Paul is effectively writing here, look, if anybody's going to be like that, it ought to be the Christian. Be careful to engage in good deeds. That word engage struck me as well. It's a word that refers to initiative.

So now look what you've got. You've got intentionality plus creativity plus initiative. I mean, this person's going to make an exceptional beneficial mark wherever they go. It could be mundane. It could be behind the scenes.

They're just doing good. It might be public. It might be apparent. Maybe not. Doesn't matter really to them. It's remarkable Christians who've adopted this lifestyle that is so remarkable.

It is driven to benefit somebody else. As we continue through this series called Remarkable Christianity, we're reminded once again that we can't take our eyes off the unsaved world as we live our lives for Christ. This is wisdom for the heart. Stephen's calling this lesson, bringing God to life.

He has more to say from this passage, but since we're almost out of time for today, we're going to break here and conclude this lesson next time. Every now and then, we'd enjoy hearing from you. You can send us a message through our website, wisdomonline.org. At the bottom of that page is a link that says contact us, and you can use that feature to send us a message. If you prefer to correspond through the mail, the address is Wisdom International, P.O. Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627. Once again, that's Wisdom International, P.O.

Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627. The next time we're with you, Stephen will conclude this lesson, so make sure not to miss that. Join us then, here on Wisdom for the Heart. ..